Depression and Praise…

I used to have a problem with depression, and sometimes, it still tries to sneak up and grab me, especially around this time of year, but I have learned a few ways to fight it that work very well for me. They work fastest if I activate them before I get down to far because then I don’t have to climb very far to get back out of the hole.

I try, whenever I feel it coming on, to find funny things to watch or listen too, preferably Christian comedians like Ken Davis or Chonda Pierce. If you haven’t heard of either of these, you are really missing out on some GREAT stuff. They are really funny, but they also help you to see how God can work in any situation… they build your faith and give you hope. Laughter truly IS medicine for me. (Proverbs. 17:22)

I also listen to Praise Music and let it just wash over my soul. Sometimes, I NEED to be able to cry to let out my emotions, and just knowing (being reminded by the music) that God loves me even in the hardest times, gives me that “rope of hope” that helps me to be able to start climbing up. (Ps. 45:8)

God, in the Bible, speaks of the “sacrifice of praise…” and sometimes, when I’m really down, it IS hard to force myself to turn to God and search for things that I can praise Him for. Even if it doesn’t seem to be much at the moment, I can praise Him for things in the past that He has done for me, and I can praise Him that He paid the price of sin for me and THAT will eventually get me into heaven.

The music will often lead me to a place where my soul comes to an oasis of peace, and I can grow stronger in faith, which also helps me to climb further out of the pit. (Heb. 13:15 & 20-21 AND James 5: 13-16)

Sometimes, I read in Psalms and His Word seeps into my soul and brings peace. I also speak scripture verses and stand on God’s promises for I’m told that if I resist Satan, he has to flee from Christ who is in me… (Examples: “Greater is He that is in me, than he who is in the world…” I John 4:4 AND “God has NOT given me a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind…” 2 Tim. 1:7)

Manna

God provided Manna for the Children of Israel for the entire time they were wandering in the desert. This was “food from Heaven.” When they finished their wandering, just after crossing the Jordan River (which had been parted during its flood stage like the Red Sea had been parted) the Manna stopped. They had come to a place where there was food for them and, like the poem "Footprints in the Sand," God no longer needed to "carry" them.

During the desert wandering, they received a wonderful gift that tasted sweet… almost like a dessert, and they had it so much that they grew tired of it and grumbled. How often are we given wonderful things that we get so used to having, that we want something MORE, and grumble, instead of asking in praise, when we don’t get the “More.”

It is possible that we would be blessed with the “more” if we just asked in praise and appreciation for the gifts He HAS given us. He says that we don't "have" because we don't ask, or we ask amiss...

Often, I don’t think we even know what the “more” is that we want, BECAUSE our eyes aren’t on the blessings that God is giving us today… Tomorrow is NOT promised. Smell the roses that are around you today! Look at the glistening diamonds shining in tiny rainbows of color in the dew, or laying on the blades of just watered grass…

Even IF we are traveling in the desert at the moment, with oasis’ few and far between, if we just look, we will find that there ARE blessings around us that God has given.

Is the desert there because we didn’t trust and follow God’s leading in the first place? If this is the case, He is waiting for us to ask, and He will guide us back to the blessed path that He has planned for us if we will just follow Him.